ACT for Youth Highlight

Service-Learning and Adolescent Sexual Health

Considered a best practice in positive youth development, service-learning has also been linked to prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease (STD) [1]. While there are specific service-learning programs that have been shown to reduce risky sexual behavior, any well-designed service-learning project that builds assets and protective factors will be a positive addition to a community's pregnancy and STD prevention plan.

What is Service-Learning?

Service-learning is commonly defined as "an educational method that involves students in challenging tasks that meet genuine community needs and requires the application of knowledge, skills, and systematic reflection on the experience." Most service-learning programs involve schools working with community partners, but some are carried out by community-based organizations. Service-learning is not simply community service. High quality programs are characterized by the K-12 Service-Learning Standards for Quality Practice (PDF) [2].

Meaningful service: Beyond simply logging volunteer hours, service is meaningful to those involved, including youth participants and the beneficiaries of the service.

Link to curriculum: Education is intentional and structured, not simply an expected by-product of service. The curriculum does not have to be directly related to sexual health education in order to be effective in teen pregnancy prevention [1, 3].

Structured opportunities for reflection: Activities include discussion, writing, or other creative and cognitively challenging work designed to help students make connections and come to new understandings as they progress through the project. Reflection activities should occur before, during, and after service.

Diversity: Participants encounter and learn to value multiple points of view and people from different backgrounds. They develop interpersonal skills by working with those who provide and receive service, and learn to overcome stereotypes.

Partnerships: Community needs are addressed through a highly collaborative and mutually beneficial process.

Progress monitoring: Participants measure their progress toward program objectives, and present their results to a wider community.

Duration and intensity: Programs are most successful when they are at least one semester in length. In a review of service-learning programs that were associated with reducing teen pregnancy, Douglas Kirby noted that "all of the [effective] programs were very intensive and involved students for many hours (e.g. 40 to 80 hours) after school." For more information on this standard, see Duration and Intensity: Supporting Research.

Evidence-Based Programs

Certain service-learning curricula have been shown to reduce risky sexual behaviors while students were enrolled in the program. Programs that have shown some evidence of effectiveness include Teen Outreach Program, Reach for Health Community Youth Service Learning program, and All4You! [4]. One study also found that well-designed service-learning programs following the Learn and Serve model lowered pregnancy rates for the duration of the programs, and was especially effective in middle school [1].

Service-Learning: Building Assets and Protective Factors

Why is service-learning effective? The answer isn't entirely clear. Because youth are engaged for many hours in service-learning, and because they are supervised by adults during that time, these programs may work by simply decreasing opportunities for sex [1]. But well-designed and carefully implemented service-learning programs may also build developmental assets [5] and protective factors [1] that in turn have an impact on sexual risk-taking. These include:

High quality relationships with non-parental adultsResilience studies have found the presence of caring, non-parental adults (mentors, for example) effective in promoting positive outcomes for youth [6], and this protective factor has been associated with reduced sexual risk-taking behaviors [7].

Development of greater autonomy and confidence; high educational aspirations and plans for the futureA sense of purpose and a positive future is thought to motivate teens to avoid pregnancy. Service-learning may help to instill this sense as young people develop skills, interact with others, and engage in genuine problem-solving within their communities. Research has linked educational aspirations and plans for the future to reduced sexual risk-taking behaviors [1, 7].

Community connectednessBy involving youth in meaningful roles within their communities, service-learning promotes a sense of belonging to community, another factor that protects against sexual risk-taking among adolescents [1, 7].

School connectedness; success in schoolSuccessful school-based service-learning projects are likely to foster achievement and attachment to school, both of which are protective factors for sexual health [1].

Program planners and funders should be aware that it takes time to grow an effective service-learning program that builds developmental assets and protective factors.

Resources

A vast amount of information on service-learning, including curricula, research, guidelines, toolkits, and much more, is available on the web:

National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC)
The mission of NYLC is to create a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world with young people, their schools, and their communities through service-learning. NYLC sponsors an annual conference, publishes research, and offers service-learning curricula, including the HIV prevention curriculum Y-RISE.